{"id":321493,"date":"2025-12-17T19:38:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T19:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/321493\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T19:38:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T19:38:10","slug":"a-song-that-embarrassed-john-lennon-says-everything-about-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/321493\/","title":{"rendered":"A song that “embarrassed” John Lennon says everything about him"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"John<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n

Wed 17 December 2025 17:46, UK <\/p>\n

Most would agree that while John Lennon\u2019s solo output impressive, neither he nor his former bandmates were able to live up to the output of The Beatles.<\/a> That being said, there are a number of songs that come pretty close, including one that Lennon surprisingly felt was too \u201cembarrassing\u201d to be featured on his 1971 album Imagine. <\/p>\n

Lennon\u2019s most successful solo album was his now-iconic sophomore record.\u00a0Heartily helped<\/a>\u00a0by the lead single \u2018Imagine\u2019, which quickly gathered pace as a timeless classic from the moment it was released, the record has become one of Lennon\u2019s finest. Even in consideration of his Beatles output, the album showcases Lennon\u2019s unique viewpoint on life perfectly. <\/p>\n

This is the album that has become the clearest image of what John Lennon was all about. While there are certainly moments of reflection on a life littered with mistakes, misgivings and missteps, there are also nods to the shining past, hope for the glittering future and, of course, a deep and undying love for Yoko Ono. Truly,\u00a0Imagine\u00a0is John Lennon through and through. But there is one track that probably showcases Lennon most intently. <\/p>\n

In All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono<\/a>, Lennon is asked about his classic track \u2018Oh Yoko!\u2019, which was released in 1971. Though the track is today one of Lennon\u2019s most popular solo recordings \u2013 thanks, in part, to its inclusion in Wes Anderson\u2019s Rushmore \u2013 John hated the idea of it being released as a single. \u201cIt\u2019s a very popular track,\u201d he explained, \u201cBut I was sort of shy and embarrassed and it didn\u2019t sort of represent my image of myself as the tough, hard-biting rock\u2019 n\u2019 roller with the acid tongue.\u201d<\/p>\n

It says a lot about Lennon\u2019s state of mind that he was so concerned about his public image during this time. \u201cEverybody wanted it to be a single \u2014 I mean, the record company, the public \u2014 everybody,\u201d he added. \u201cBut I just stopped it from being a single \u2019cause of that.\u201d Lennon would later admit that his paranoia negatively impacted the success of Imagine. \u201c[That decision] probably kept it in No. 2,\u201d he said. \u201cIt never made No. 1. The Imagine album was No. 1, but the single wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"John<\/a>John Lennon form the \u2018Imagine\u2019 video. (Credits: Far Out \/ YouTube Still)<\/p>\n

Because \u2018Oh Yoko!\u2019 was never released as a single, it failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. The track didn\u2019t chart in the UK either. The Imagine album, meanwhile, held the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 200 for one week, staying in the charts for 101 weeks altogether. <\/p>\n

These days, \u2018Oh Yoko!\u2019 is one of Lennon\u2019s most beloved solo efforts. The single\u2019s latent success may well be thanks to the very thing Lennon had been scared of revealing: that he\u2019d ditched the rock \u2018n\u2019 roll lifestyle for something more wholesome. \u201cIt\u2019s a message to Yoko<\/a>,\u201d he once revealed about the song\u2019s lyrics. \u201cBecause I couldn\u2019t say it in real life. Maybe, I don\u2019t know. I mean not real life! Records are real life, but it expresses in song.\u201d <\/p>\n

In the track, Lennon does not attempt to fulfil his role as the witty, sardonic social commentator. Instead, he strips away the complexity to leave us with something simple and heartfelt: a declaration of love and desire encapsulated in one simple refrain, \u201cOh Yoko.\u201d<\/p>\n

This duality of the track perfectly captures everything Lennon was. He was the genius child who found himself fistfighting on the streets in the name of rebellion. The loved-up family man who was left floundering by the temptation of being a pop star, only to find a new life with a new woman, a person who would entirely change everything about his life. The staunch Liverpudlian would turn his back on Britain to become a New York native, a true rock and roller who first found solace in the poetry of his pop music, proclaiming that what was\u00a0real\u00a0was all that really mattered, only to be ashamed of how real it would soon become.<\/p>\n

Lennon was a walking quarrel that never seemed to subside or truly succeed. \u2018Oh Yoko\u2019 is a reminder of that battle. That\u2019s not to say he was unhappy in this churn, as anrtist he seemed to enjoy the constant challenge of expressing himself truthfully, but underneath the charming lilt of this pop ditty, we find perhaps the honest essence of a young boy who lost his mother, only to find love again in a woman named Yoko Ono. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/p>\n

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Straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy) Wed 17 December 2025 17:46, UK Most would agree that while John Lennon\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,126920,25396,128,10447,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-321493","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-imagine","10":"tag-john-lennon","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-the-beatles","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}